This month Messy Church had a good look at the bible, answering some questions about what it is and why we should read it.

Our
BIG BIBLE TIMELINE helped us better understand how some of the well
known stories fit together. As we glued, coloured, and chatted we
tracked how the different parts of the story demonstrate God’s
love for us, a thread running through it all. A BIBLE KIM’S GAME
helped us talk about which parts of the whole Bible story we like best,
and which parts we find difficult. Lots of questions here!

UsingPIPE CLEANERS we shaped pencil toppers: hearts because God loves
us; ‘X’ to remind us of our sins, and that we have turned
away from God; crosses because God loves me so much that he sent his
Son Jesus to die on the cross for us so we could be forgiven; and
lastly ‘?’ to remind us that we have to make a decision,
asking ourselves if we really want to say “yes” to Jesus
and follow him.

All across the world everyone has the same
Bible, but in different translations so that more people are able to
understand it. Our ONE BIBLE FOR ALL activity presented us with a verse
written in a variety of languages: we chose one each, copied it out and
decorated it. Some of us even correctly guessed the language it was
written in!

A kind of jigsaw puzzle helped us to create a
“ BIBLE BOOKCASE” with all the books of the Bible in the
right order. Do you know how many there are, and the order they come in?

Then
we made STICKY TAPE RINGS containing a Bible verse with one of
God’s promises, and decorated it with jewel stickers. We talked
about some of these promises and how important it is to keep our
promises - and how God, unlike us, always keeps the promises he makes.Next,
two activities reminding us about some of the things the Bible tells us
about Jesus : we made CROWNS for the KING OF KINGS and then discussed
what it means to say JESUS IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

Finally,
we had great fun making BALLOON POWERED CARS and seeing how far they
went. This was a fun illustration of what we are told to do in the
Bible: spread the Good News about Jesus around the world.

After
our celebration in the church, pulling together some of the things we
had learned through the activities, we returned to the hall for our
meal of pasta, meatballs and tomato sauce, followed by our very last
craft activity: just as the Bible is made up of many different kinds of
book, and a huge range of stories, so our DIY One Book, many treasures
pudding was made up of a variety of different fruits and bases.

Next Messy Church: Sunday October 28th

Penicuik: St. Mungo's Parish
Church (Church of
Scotland). Scottish Charity No SC005838